Xwold



(No Model.)

G. A. GRISWOLD.

CORSET.

No. 392,198. Patented Nov. 6, 1888.

INVENTORI,

WITNESSES A TTORNEY,

N. PETERS. PhokvLilhngmphan Washington, D4 (1 U ITED STATES PATENT Fries.

CATHARTNE A. GRISWOLD, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y.

CORSET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 392,198, dated November 6, 1888.

Application filed January 25, 1888. Serial No. 261,846. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, CATHARINE A. GRIS- WoLD, of the city, county, and State of New York, a citizen of the United States, have invented an Improved Corset, of which thefollowing is a full, clean-and exact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawmg, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to corsets; and it consists in a corset provided with individual and lndependent ring-like stays or stiffeners arranged, one or more, at or along the waist-line thereof, and adapted in length to reach across and extend only somewhat above and below said waistline, together with stays or stiffeners, each having an edgewise turn or reversal of direction, and extending, one or more, from the top and bottom edges to and with their apices thereat located opposedly to the upper and lower ends, respectively, of said independent and separate waist-line stiffeners, all as hereinafter particularly described, and for the purpose set forth.

The single figure in the drawing represents in side elevation a corset containing my said invention.

A represents the corset-body.

B represents bones, stays, or stiffeners, which are ring-like in form, and preferably oval, as shown. These stiffeners are arranged in the corset structure, as hereinafter described, separately and independently of each other and of the other hereinafter named stays for the corset, one or more at or along the waist-line 0f the corset, and preferably with the longer diameter of the individual ovals extending vertically of the corset-body, as shown. These said stift'eners are adapted in length to reach across said waist-line and to extend only somewhat beyond the same upwardly and downwardly of the corset, as shown. In ordinary or usual sized corsets, when said stiffeners are from about three to four and a half inches long, and thus extend from about one and a half to two and a quarter inches beyond the waist-line upwardly and downwardly of the corset, such 'stifieners may be considered to conform in length and location to the essential feature of my invention. It will be understood, however, that the length of said stiffeners may be somewhat varied within reasonable limits, according to variations in the size of the entire corset, without materially departing from this feature of the invention; but it is essential and necessary that the length of said stays shall be such that they will extend in the corset structure some distance above and below the waist-line, so as to furnish asubstantial and actual support to the person of the wearer thereat, as hereinafter set forth.

At 0 O are shown steels, bones, stays, or stiffeners,which extend, one or more, from the top and bottom edges of the corset-body to the upper and lower extremities, respectively, of the individual and independent waist-line stiffeners B,and with their ends thereat located opposedly to the said extremities of said waistline stiffeners, as shown.

The described stiffeners 0 each have in them an edgewise turn or reversal of direction,consisting, desirably, in a curvated bend about midway of their length, and thus formed theyextend individually from the top and bottom edges of the corset, one or more from each, with their apices, as shown, located opposedly tothe upper and lower ends or apices of the separate and independent waist-line stiffeners.

It will be found desirablc,and it is a feature of this invention, to arrange the said waistline stiffeners B in a series along and throughout the waist-line of the corset and to arrange the described edgewisebent stiffeners O in a series along and extending, as described, from the top edge of the corset, and in a similar series along and from the bottom edge thereof, as shown in the drawing. These described independent stiffeners may be incorporated or seated in correspondingly-shaped pockets constituted in and by the material of the corsetbody by means of rows of stitching passing through the double thicknesses of said material, as shown in the drawing; ,or the said stiffeners may be applied and secured to the corset-body in the form of overlays.

It is evident that by means of a corset constructed as described the person of the wearer will be supported at and about the Waist by the stiffeners B,while the trunk of the person will be sustained by the stifi'eners O,cxtending from the upper ends of the separate and independent stiffeners B to the top edge of the corset, and the hip portion of the corset possesses the desired stiffness by reason of the stiffeners 0 extending from the lower ends of the said stiffener-s B to the bottom edge of the corset, and at the same time the person of the wearer be given freedom of movement forward, backward, and sidewise, owing to the hingewise joints constituted innnediatel y above and below the waist-line by the location opposedly to and independently of each other in the corset structure of the ends or apiees of the top and bottom stiffeners O and the upper and lower ends or apices, respectively,of the waistline stiffeners B. It is also evident that in a corset thus constructed the employment of bones or stays extending continuously from top to bottom of the corset may be avoided, and the liability of such stays to fracture at the waistline be escaped.

I am aware that a corset-stay has been heretofore constructedcomposed of two rectilinear stiffeners adapted to extend, respectively, from the top and bottom edges of the corset-body to the waist thereof, and with their ends thereat united hingewise by a link-piece located between said ends, and to the opposite edges of which link-piece said stiffener ends were respectively attached by wires or equivalent means; but the said link-piece in such stays, when the same are incorporated in the corset structure, are incapable, either in form or an rangeinent, of constituting any support, as of a stay at the waistline of the corset, being solely and in fact a portion only of a hingewise joint between the thus connected main parts of the stay itself and capable of no other or further function. Such link-pieces are distinguished, mechanically and structurally, from my described waist-line stays B, in that my said stays extend, substantially and actually,

across the waist-line of the corset above and below, and are arrangedin the corset structure separately and independently of each other and of the other described stays of the corset in the portions above and below the waist-line portion thereof, and capable, by such extent, form, and arrangement, of performing their stated function independently and apart from the other stays of the corset, and hence effectively and satisfactorily.

\Vhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A corset provided with a ring-like stay, B, arranged atthe waist-line thereof, and reaching across and extending somewhat above and below said waist-line, as set forth, together with stays, each having an edgewise turn or reversal of direction, and extending from the top and bottom edges to and with their apiccs thereat located opposedly to the upper and. lower edges, respectively, of said stay 3, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. A corset provided with ring-like stays arranged in a series along and upon the waistline thereof, and each of a length adapted to reach across and extend only somewhat above and below said waist-line, together with stays, each having an edgewise turn or reversal of direction, and extending in a series along and from the top and bottom edges of the corset to and with their apices thercat located opposedly to the upper and lower ends or apices of the said ringlike stiffeners at the waist-line, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

(lATHARlNE A. GR-lSlVOLD \Vitnesses:

JOHN J. ENNIS, J AMES MoINTYRn. 

